Elsberry: Rioux more than just a wonderful athlete

Updated 11:42 pm, Saturday, April 5, 2014

Cheryl Rioux, sister of Allyson, speaks during the unveiling of plaques at the Fairfield County Sports Hall of Fame at UConn Stamford on Wednesday, April 2, 2014. New additions to the hall include James Blake and Mark Hirshbeck to the professional wing, Allyson Rioux and Dennis Paglialunga to the amateur wing, and Don Cook and Earl Lavery to the community service wing. less

Cheryl Rioux, sister of Allyson, speaks during the unveiling of plaques at the Fairfield County Sports Hall of Fame at UConn Stamford on Wednesday, April 2, 2014. New additions to the hall include James Blake ... more

From left, Dennis Paglialunga, Betty Blake (mother of Jason Blake), Don Cook and Barbara Rioux (mother of Allyson Rioux) pose for a photo during the unveiling of plaques at the Fairfield County Sports Hall of Fame at UConn Stamford on Wednesday, April 2, 2014. less

From left, Dennis Paglialunga, Betty Blake (mother of Jason Blake), Don Cook and Barbara Rioux (mother of Allyson Rioux) pose for a photo during the unveiling of plaques at the Fairfield County Sports Hall of ... more

STAMFORD -- Her nickname was "Hoover." Like the vacuum cleaner. Because if there was a ground ball hit anywhere close to her, Allyson Rioux would make the play and throw the runner out.

For eight seasons from her spot at first base, Diane Shumacher saw Rioux make the almost impossible look easy fielding her position -- even after the surgery for the brain tumor -- as the Raybestos/Hi-Ho Brakettes rolled to five ASA Women's Fast Pitch National Championships.

From 1979 through 1988, Rioux was an infielder the Brakettes, first joining the team as a 17-year-old high school senior from Westhill in Stamford. Aside from that initial campaign, the Brakettes spent the next nine seasons reaching the ASA finals. In 1985 at the ASA Championships in Lansing, Mich., Rioux was named both the tournament's best defensive player and the MVP.

She still stands eighth in Brakettes history in games played, 17th in runs scored, 18th in hits and 17th in doubles. Numbers that would be a lot higher -- if a brain tumor hadn't taken Rioux away in 1989 at the age of 27.

"She was quite the athlete but more than that, she was just an amazing person," her sister, Cheryl Rioux Tiscia, said Wednesday when Rioux's plaque signaling her induction into the Fairfield County Sports Commission's Hall of Fame was unveiled at the UConn-Stamford branch. "That was always her dream (to play for the Brakettes). They were wonderful, wonderful years with the Brakettes."

One of four sisters growing up, Allyson quickly became the tomboy of the family, following her father, who was a Babe Ruth baseball coach teaching boys ages 13 to 15. She quickly made herself her father's assistant.

"She was definitely the boy that my parents never had," Tiscia said. "My dad was a big athlete and he coached baseball and she was like 7 or 8 and she would go to the practices and she would be the one demonstrating the correct way to slide and things like that."

About that same time, Rioux got involved with a softball program in Stamford and started playing. At Westhill, she added field hockey and basketball (fall and winter sports) to keep herself active for softball. She played collegiately for a season at Rhode Island before transferring to UMass.

"Allyson Rioux was another wonderful player; `Hoover' we called her, the human vacuum," Schumacher said in a 2011 interview. "She saved many a no-hitter and perfect game with her range as a second baseman."

The Brakettes won the ASA championship in 1980, '82, '83, '85 and '88 while finishing second in 1981, '84, '86 and '87.

"It was a joy watching those games," said Barbara, Rioux's mother. "They were just ... going out to all the tournaments were really special. They were definitely wonderful memories, wonderful days."

In the spring of 1987, Rioux started having vision problems and doctors discovered a tumor near the optic nerve. Although the tumor, located in the middle of the brain, was inoperable, doctors determined that the tumor was a benign astrocytoma, and they inserted a shunt from her forehead to her intestines to drain away the excess fluid.

It worked well enough that Rioux, after missing 10 weeks, was able to return and play for the Brakettes. But the comeback wouldn't last long.

The tumor mutated into what doctors call a "gioblastoma" or malignant tumor.

"She had gone into remission for a while and I remember because at that time, she was at Sacred Heart," Tiscia said. "She had been the softball coach at Quinnipiac and then was at Sacred Heart as the assistant AD (and softball coach in 1988).

"And then she started to get a little forgetful, some things were resurfacing, and at that point, because of where it was in her brain, there wasn't anything they could do."

She was just 27 years old when she passed in 1989.

Twenty years later, in 2009, Rioux was inducted into the National ASA Softball Hall of Fame. Cheryl gave the acceptance speech.

And since her death, the Allyson Rioux Foundation has awarded an annual $5,000 scholarship to any female athlete from Stamford "who exemplifies not only the athletic abilities but the sportsmanship and the leadership that really was what my sister was all about," Cheryl said. The Foundation also helps families who are struggling with financial hardships due to illness.

"Giving back to the community was so important to us because she was so much about Stamford," Tiscia said. "We wanted to be able to sponsor teams to get more girls involved in sports, show them what they can strive for and the whole confidence thing. It keeps Allyson's memory alive.